What You’ll Learn

This guide explains how to farm a strong Firefly trial score in ARC Raiders by using a high-visibility rooftop position in Buried City Night Raid, cycling flying ARC spawns correctly, and bringing the right mix of weapons, utility, and healing. If you want smoother clears, better survival odds, and more efficient use of your ARC Raiders Weapons and progression resources, this setup is one of the most practical ways to approach the challenge.

Why Buried City Night Raid Is the Best Firefly Trial Map

For this trial, the biggest problem is not simply finding Fireflies. It is finding them consistently, spotting them before they drift out of sight, and clearing enough surrounding flying ARC to keep the spawn pool moving. Buried City Night Raid stands out because it gives you a long, elevated sightline over a large section of the map, which makes target acquisition much easier than in busier or more cluttered conditions.

The key advantage is the rooftop area around Santa Maria houses. From the top, you can scan wide angles, track multiple aerial targets, and react before swarms collapse onto your position. That visibility matters more than raw damage alone. A map condition with doubled enemy activity can look tempting, but if it creates too much chaos or blocks clean sightlines, it often lowers your actual Firefly kill pace.

Night Raid also seems to support a steady flow of flying ARC over time. In practice, that means less downtime, more chances to cycle Hornets and Wasps, and more opportunities for Fireflies to appear later in the raid. If your goal is efficient ARC Raiders extraction loot and trial score rather than random combat, this map condition is far more reliable than forcing a messier route.

The Core Strategy: Hold the Santa Maria Rooftops

The heart of the run is simple: reach the top of Santa Maria houses, establish vision, and use that elevated perch to hunt every flying ARC you can see. A zipline is extremely valuable here because it gives you a fast and repeatable way to reach the roof and, just as importantly, a fast escape route when pressure spikes.

Once you are in position, resist the urge to constantly reposition unless the roof becomes unsafe. The rooftop works because it lets you survey a large area with minimal obstruction. If you keep dropping down and rotating too early, you lose the main reason this strategy works in the first place.

From the roof, scan patiently and ping targets whenever needed. Fireflies can be harder to identify at long range than they first appear, especially when several flying enemies overlap in the same space. If you have binocular-style scouting gear or an Osprey for zoom and confirmation, use it to reduce wasted shots.

When the area becomes too hot, the safest play is often to disengage briefly rather than force the hold. Drop down the zipline, break line of sight, heal, recharge if possible, then return to the roof when pressure falls off. This is much safer than stubbornly tanking a Rocketeer barrage or getting chipped to death by multiple flyers at once.

How Spawn Cycling Works in This Trial

The most important idea in this challenge is that you should not only shoot Fireflies. You need to clear all relevant flying ARC, especially Wasps and Hornets, to keep the spawn cycle moving. If you leave too many lesser flyers alive, they can clog the active enemy pool and reduce how often new Fireflies appear.

That makes this trial feel unusual compared with normal farming. A lot of players tunnel vision on the main target and ignore everything else. Here, that can hurt your score. Clearing solo Wasps, Hornets, and nearby aerial threats appears to create more room for fresh spawns, and late-raid waves can become noticeably better when you stay disciplined about this.

There are a few practical rules:

• Kill Fireflies immediately when you have a clean shot.
• Clear nearby Wasps and Hornets instead of letting them linger.
• Do not waste long stretches waiting for Fireflies if several other flyers are still active.
• Watch the late raid window, because aerial spawn activity can feel denser deeper into the match.

This is also why ammo planning matters. You are not entering the raid to take a handful of precision shots. You are committing to repeated aerial clears over an extended period, and that means your ARC Raiders survival loadout items need to support a long engagement rather than a quick objective burst.

Best Loadout for the Firefly Trial

The tested setup used a Jupiter as the main tool, with an Osprey 4 for scouting and a Renegade 4 as backup. That worked well enough to prove the strategy, but there is room to optimize.

Jupiter is strong because it can finish Fireflies efficiently when you land center-mass hits. It also performs well at controlled range and can delete targets quickly if charged and managed properly. The downside is that it feels less forgiving at long distance than you might expect. If your shot placement is slightly off, you may fail to secure the kill cleanly, and partial damage can lead to wasted time.

Renegade is a solid backup for moments when the Jupiter is low on durability or when you need a more straightforward finishing option. Having a secondary ready matters because the rooftop strategy creates constant pressure, and a broken or empty weapon at the wrong moment can cost several kills in a row.

Osprey is useful for target identification and scanning, but it is not mandatory. If you already know the sightlines and can identify targets quickly, you may prefer to free that slot for another practical option.

A more refined version of this setup may favor a different backup or a utility-heavy alternative, especially if you want smoother cleanup on clustered flyers. For players still building out their beginner ARC Raiders Weapons, the priority is less about perfect meta and more about bringing a dependable ranged option with enough ammo support to stay active for most of the raid.

Utility and consumables

This is where the strategy can improve the most.

• Zipline: essential for reaching and leaving the Santa Maria rooftop efficiently.
• Photocloak: excellent emergency tool when a Rocketeer or heavy pressure threatens your hold.
• Seeker grenades: arguably the most important utility item after the zipline.
• Healing and shield support: bring more than you think you need.
• Barricades: optional, but potentially useful if you want more rooftop stability.

If there is one clear lesson from testing, it is this: bring a lot of Seeker grenades. They solve awkward firing angles, help finish evasive targets, and reduce the time you spend trying to line up perfect shots on mobile flyers. A run can still work without a huge grenade stack, but the difference in consistency is noticeable. If you are managing ARC Raiders crafting Materials carefully, this is one of the few trial setups where overinvesting in utility can be worth it because it directly protects score pace.

Take a look at: our Buried City Town Hall guide

How to Shoot Fireflies Efficiently

Fireflies are not especially durable if you hit them correctly, but they are easy to waste shots on. The main rule is to aim for center mass. Do not focus the wings. Wing hits can cause them to drop awkwardly without giving you the fast, clean elimination you want.

At range, a practical pattern is to soften the target with your conventional weapon if needed and then finish with the Jupiter. However, this only works consistently when your follow-up lands where it should. If your damage feels inconsistent, it is usually a positioning or hit-placement issue rather than a sign that the strategy is failing.

Some useful reminders:

• Ping first if target identity is unclear.
• Shoot center mass to secure the kill.
• Reload proactively between spawn windows.
• Do not overtrack one target while several easier kills are available.

Because the rooftop gives such a broad view, target priority matters. A drifting Firefly in the open is worth more than a messy angle on a partially hidden flyer. Keep your pace efficient rather than obsessive.

Managing Threats While Holding the Roof

The roof is powerful, but it is not safe. The biggest threats are pressure spikes from heavy ARC, chip damage from multiple flyers, and unexpected player contact. Rocketeers are especially dangerous because they can force you off the roof or punish slow reactions. If one locks onto your position, do not hesitate to break away and reset.

There are three ways to keep the run alive:

1. Use vertical escape routes

The zipline is not just entry utility. It is your panic button. If the roof becomes unmanageable, dropping off quickly is often better than trying to outtrade incoming damage.

Photocloak is best used when you need to cross open space, dodge a lethal pressure moment, or disengage from a heavy ARC line. Burning it too early can leave you exposed later in the raid.

3. Respect attrition

This trial creates long fights. Even if no single enemy is overwhelming, repeated chip damage will eventually break your shields and force a bad rotation. More meds, more shield support, and cleaner resets do more for your final score than greedily staying exposed for one extra Firefly.

This is also where smart inventory planning matters. Even strong players can lose a promising run simply by underpacking ARC Raiders upgrade Materials-driven consumables or by entering with a loadout tuned for general PvE instead of sustained anti-air farming.

When the Raid Gets Better: Late-Game Spawn Density

One of the most useful observations from this strategy is that the raid can feel more productive later on. As the timer drops, Firefly appearances may become more frequent, especially if you have been actively clearing Wasps and Hornets throughout the match.

Whether this is tied to map logic, raid pacing, or shifting spawn weights, the practical takeaway is the same: do not leave too early if your resources can support staying. Some of the strongest scoring windows happen after the raid has already been running for a while.

That said, you still need to leave with enough time to extract safely. A great score means nothing if you die in the final minutes. Keep an eye on the extraction path and do not let a final cluster of flyers trap you into a desperate late sprint.

Recommended Improvements for a Better Run

The basic strategy already works, but several adjustments can push it further:

• Bring more Seeker grenades than you think you need.
• Pack extra healing for long rooftop holds.
• Consider barricades if you want a more stable firing platform.
• Use a more efficient backup weapon for cleanup when the Jupiter feels awkward.
• Commit to spawn cycling instead of tunnel visioning only Fireflies.

If your account is still progressing through ARC Raiders Workbench progression, this kind of specialized trial setup can feel expensive. The upside is that once you know the route, you can plan your loadout around exactly what the challenge demands rather than wasting durability and utility on general-purpose gear.

Take a look at: these hidden tips for farming and survival

Common Mistakes That Lower Your Score

• Ignoring Wasps and Hornets: this slows the spawn cycle and reduces Firefly opportunities.
• Aiming at wings: this causes messy damage and slower kills.
• Underpacking utility: too few Seeker grenades makes awkward targets much harder than they need to be.
• Staying on the roof too long under pressure: a reset is better than a death.
• Leaving too early: later raid windows may be your best scoring phase.
• Forgetting extraction timing: a high score only matters if you get out.

For players looking to smooth out the grind, efficient routing and smart use of in-game items matter more than brute force. If you are ever stuck on repeated prep costs, many players look for how to stock up on ARC Raiders Materials without endless grinding so they can keep running focused trial attempts without losing momentum.

If you want the simplest version of the plan, it looks like this:

• Queue Buried City Night Raid when available.
• Reach the Santa Maria rooftops with a zipline.
• Use your elevated view to scan and ping flying ARC.
• Kill Fireflies on sight, aiming center mass.
• Actively clear Wasps and Hornets to cycle spawns.
• Use Photocloak or the zipline to disengage when heavy pressure appears.
• Stay long enough to benefit from late-raid aerial density, but leave with safe extraction time.

This approach is currently one of the cleanest ways to convert map knowledge, utility planning, and anti-air discipline into a strong trial score. It is efficient, repeatable, and scalable once you refine the loadout.

FAQ

Is Buried City Night Raid really the best map condition for this trial?

It is one of the strongest options because the Santa Maria rooftop gives excellent visibility and consistent opportunities to cycle flying ARC spawns.

Do I need the Jupiter for this strategy?

No, but it is very effective when you land center-mass hits. A reliable ranged alternative can still work if you manage ammo and cleanup well.

Why should I kill Wasps and Hornets if the trial is about Fireflies?

Because clearing other flyers appears to help refresh the spawn pool, which can lead to more Firefly appearances over the course of the raid.

Seeker grenades and Photocloak are the biggest upgrades to consistency. They help secure awkward kills and survive dangerous pressure spikes.

Is this worth doing if my gear is limited?

Yes, as long as you can field a stable ranged loadout and enough healing. Even with modest gear, good positioning and spawn cycling can outperform expensive but unfocused setups.